For children, GK is no more general

New Delhi: There's no denying that school children these days are smart, grasp things faster and are sharper than what kids used to be several years ago.

However, try quizzing them on their general knowledge and you'll realise that general knowledge today is something that the average school-going child remembers to forget.

Some children, when asked simple questions on the number of states and Union Territories in India or quizzed on the laws of gravity, threw up blank expressions.

Many of them had incredible answers like the one who believed that the International Court of Justice is located at Teen Murti Marg in Delhi.

It’s not that these children had never heard of these facts. In fact, some of them have been high-scorers all their school lives and had learnt these facts quite early in their student life.

However, they just forgot. Celebrated quiz master Derek O’ Brien says it’s not surprising.

“Forty years ago, when our parents went to school, what was there in class? Blackboard, chalk, desk. Today you go to 95 per cent of the schools and what do you find there - blackboard, chalk and desk - the same medium of communication to convey content,” says O’Brien.

Is it any wonder then that when asked who penned India’s National Anthem or where the land of the five rivers was, it was clear that children’s knowledge bank was bankrupt.

"As we go higher up in class, burden of studies is so much that we cant remember what was taught in previous classe," says a student, Rashi Bhargava.

Blame it on books – “my book was not updated so I don’t know “- or go defensive – “do you know the answer?” - the fact is that today's youth considers general knowledge as a complete nuisance.

So, has the young generation lost all curiosity or is it the education system that's killing interest?

“The important thing about GK is that it has been reduced to memorisation of facts, dates, quizzes. That’s not GK. GK is the understanding the world in its relationships,” says educationist

Vinod Raina.

General knowledge is certainly no longer general. Teachers say Discovery Channel, field trips and project work would help. Because if knowledge is not made interesting, the capital of the United States could well be...Mumbai.

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